You could not go anywhere in New York City over the last week without seeing the Nike advert of Cole Palmer alongside the words: ‘Scary Good.’
Times Square? There’s Cole. The Subway? Oh look, it’s Cole. Yellow Cabs whizzing by? You guessed it, Cole again, and again, and again.
False advertising, it is not. Don’t Paris Saint-Germain know it, too, with Luis Enrique’s European conquerors petrified by the scale of Palmer’s savagery here in this one-sided Club World Cup final.
Few gave Chelsea a chance because this was supposed to be PSG’s time to go from being the unofficial best team in the world to official. Instead, they now know the hurt they inflicted on Inter Milan in winning the Champions League final 5-0 in May.
PSG had not trailed by three goals at half-time in an international fixture since 1997, but Palmer fancied creating history. It is thanks to him, and a perfect tactical plan from his manager Enzo Maresca, that Chelsea are the world champions.
They will carry a shiny FIFA sticker on their shirts for the next four years telling us all so. Critics be damned, this triumph is serious justification for the club’s youth-led strategy.
Cole Palmer scored a brace and Joao Pedro also netted as Chelsea won the Club World Cup
Joao Pedro found the net for Chelsea with a goal just before half time at the MetLife Stadium
Palmer scores his second goal of the game as he helped Chelsea to secure victory
Chelsea stars Palmer and Tosin Adarabioyo celebrate after Chelsea were crowned champions
While there was not a single Chelsea player who shirked the work, Palmer’s performance in particular was a privilege to witness, maybe even enough to turn Donald Trump’s passing interest in ‘soccer’ into something much more serious. The US President was among the 81,118 crowd to watch Palmer activate ‘Cold’ mode in the 30C heat of New Jersey.
The 23-year-old scored his first, a fine finish in which he passed the ball into the bottom corner. Then his second, a similar move in which he momentarily sent PSG’s defenders back to Paris with a shift in weight that was practically poetry.
It was then his piercing pass which opened up PSG’s back line. That set up Joao Pedro, who dinked over Gianluigi Donnarumma for their third before the break, the win wrapped up with an entire half to spare. With that, visitors to Stamford Bridge next season best expect to hear a new song. ‘Champions of the world,’ it will go, and no one can take that from them.
Trump can keep his Secret Service agents. Chelsea’s chief protector is Moises Caicedo, and the defensive midfielder started here despite being unable to complete some training sessions in the build-up after turning his ankle versus Fluminense.
His inclusion was a boost for the Blues, though we had to wait a while to see him. FIFA’s pre-match party was all very extra, you see. There was gold everywhere, an enormous inflatable Club World Cup trophy, F-5 fighter jets flying overhead, fireworks, smoke, a brass band and, of course, Mr Williams in a white tracksuit singing the Club World Cup anthem ‘Desire’.
We then had Trump saluting the national anthem and Michael Buffer telling us ‘let’s get ready to rumble’ as the players spent more than half an hour in their changing rooms waiting for it all to end.
PSG’s players must have misheard Buffer. They thought he said ‘crumble’ as Chelsea took control.
Palmer should have scored within 10 minutes after Joao Pedro’s lovely flicked lay-off, as if inspired after shaking hands with Ronaldo in the warm-up. Palmer’s attempt kissed the post as it whizzed wide.
PSG were reduced to ten men late on with Joao Neves pulling on Marc Cucurella’s hair
US President Donald Trump attended the game alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino
Enzo Maresca guided Chelsea to victory with his perfectly-executed tactical plan
Luis Enrique was left frustrated as his Champions League winners ended up being beaten
Enrique clashed with Chelsea star Joao Pedro in heated scenes after the game
Chelsea were pressing hard but it was inevitable that PSG would have their chances, too, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s cross left Desire Doue with a glorious chance. Instead of scoring himself, however, he tried to cut it back for Achraf Hakimi. Marc Cucurella read it well and cleared.
Chelsea opened the scoring after 22 minutes when they countered. Malo Gusto did well down the right. He tried to score himself but couldn’t. At the second opportunity, he saw fit to set up Palmer. This time, Chelsea’s playmaker passed the ball into the bottom-right corner for 1-0.
After 30 minutes, it was 2-0, courtesy of another magnificent move from Chelsea. The overlap from Joao Pedro was crucial. Palmer used it to fool PSG’s players into thinking he was going to tee him up. It was all a decoy, sending Lucas Beraldo to the deck, and Palmer again found the corner.
Nobody had seen this coming, and after 43 minutes, it was 3-0. This time, Palmer turned provider, his pass cutting open PSG’s defence. They were frozen and yet Chelsea’s superstar was colder still, as Joao Pedro broke in behind on to it. PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is a big bloke at 6ft 5in, but Chelsea’s striker simply lifted the ball over him. It was delicate and deadly.
After a half-time show curated by Chris Martin of Coldplay – FIFA tried their best to give this spectacle a Super Bowl feel – Dembele seemed destined to score when the ball squirmed to him inside the six-yard box. Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez denied him brilliantly.
Liam Delap replaced Joao Pedro and forced Donnarumma into two splendid saves. The first was acrobatic to deny him from 25 yards. The second from close range.
In the 85th minute, referee Alireza Faghani was sent to his monitor. Joao Neves had clearly yanked the hair of Cucurella and was shown a straight red. PSG’s players had lost their heads, whereas Chelsea’s had showed maturity beyond their years in keeping theirs to lift this trophy.
After full-time, PSG continued to rage. They are not used to losing as emphatically as this as Donnarumma seemed to smack Joao Pedro in the face. It was ugly, and a sign of a sour loser as Chelsea celebrated wildly. Rightly so, too. They deserved this win.
